Comedian Adam Fields steps from the scorching heat into the relative cool of his dressing room, takes off his cap and wipes his brow. ‘I was prepared for the worst, to be honest’, he grins, ‘but considering that a large portion of the students was probably hungover and the fact that it’s like an oven outside, I am pretty happy with how it went’.
Good advice and personal anecdotes
About an hour before, the British-born comedian gave the traditional Open Class to a large, hot and sweaty crowd of brand new UT freshmen in the Open-air Theatre on campus. Fields offered up a performance that was salted with witty allusions to student life, peppered with pretty decent advice about life in The Netherlands and spiced up further with entertaining personal anecdotes and interaction with the audience. He warned the brand new students about the dangers of alcohol (‘if you’re having a philosophical debate with your cat in the middle of the night, and lose, you might want to cut back’) and Dutch food (‘Stamppot, that can’t be a food. It’s a building material’), while praising The Netherlands and the Dutch for their positive attitude (‘A few months ago, the roads froze over. Traffic was impossible, but what did you do? You went ice-skating. The Dutch make the best out of any situation’) and open-mindedness. 
Freshmen
Though it was clear the audience was bothered by the blistering heat, the comedian was able to tease and joke a good amount of laughter, smiles and applause from the crowd with ease and visible pleasure; ‘I love performing for students’. Later, back in his dressing room, Fields repeats his statement; ‘I very much like performing for students. In general, they’re smart, have a good command of English and as a whole they are open-minded’. There is, however, a difference between freshmen and older students. ‘Freshmen, especially when they’ve just started, are often still a bit shy. They need a little confidence that they usually build up in a couple of months. During that first period a real transformation happens. And that is why being a student is so great’.
Adam Fields will be hosting the Global Comedy Night in the Global Lounge of the Bastille on October 12th.
